


Need A Hand?

by The_Defender (The_Optimist)



Series: Hey, Man [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anger, Angst, Breakfast, Confusion, Coran Coran The Gorgeous Man, Fear, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galra Shiro (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Team Breakfast, but more like his evil clone rather than being an actual galra, everything's tits up for a bit, no it isn't original clone character it is then, nobody knows what's happening, shiro's clone is a dick, wait is his clone a character?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 18:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11766222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Optimist/pseuds/The_Defender
Summary: Keith's having nightmares, and he's starting to think Black's been keeping Shiro out of the loop for a reason...





	Need A Hand?

**Author's Note:**

> Mentions of character death in a nightmare but nobody dies. Some use of telepathic connection between characters to transfer superficial injuries from dreams to real life.

Lance woke to the sound of a scream. He shot up in bed, senses on high alert, only to find Keith still asleep, screaming and crying out as he tried to fight off whatever monster he was seeing in his dream. Lance moved to quickly try and shake him awake, but Keith just pushed him away, crying out in fear as he did so. Tears were beginning to stream down his cheeks and suddenly his hands were grasping in the general direction of his throat before he suddenly shot up, fully awake, and almost knocking Lance off the bed.

  
"Keith, Keith, it's okay it was just a dream, I've got you," Lance said, leaning in front of Keith to be fully within his vision, but not touching him just incase. Keith was sucking in shallow breaths, hands grasping at his throat as he looked with wide eyed terror at Lance.

  
"Som-somethings wrong, Shiro, Shiro he- there's something _wrong_ with Shiro, something wrong, wrong-" Keith managed to gasp out, leaning forward to press his face into Lance's shoulder shaking in Lance's arms as he carefully wrapped them around the black paladin. Lance made soothing noises, rocking their bodies back and forth like he used to do for his nieces and nephews when they had nightmares. Eventually Keith had calmed enough to try speaking again. "I think there's something wrong with Shiro," he whispered into Lance's pyjama top, and Lance regarded the top of his lover's head carefully.

  
"Is it because of what happened in your dream?" Lance asked quietly in return, and Keith nodded after a brief hesitation. "What happened then, if you feel okay telling me?"

  
Keith took a deep breath, breathing in Lance's familiar scent. "We were training, and it was just me and Shiro, and you were waiting for us to finish up 'cause Hunk had made some sort of spaghetti thing," Lance gave a small huff of laughter at that, causing a small twitch on Keith's lips. "And then, I think I must have said something, or done something, I can't remember, but suddenly Shiro was attacking again, and I thought it was the training exercise but his eyes looked like mine, and they were glowing slightly, and he knocked my sword away but he just kept coming at me, and he wouldn't stop, and suddenly you were there and he just-" Keith choked out, cutting off and looking away, Lance holding Keith close in concern. "He just turned on you. One second you were leaping to my aid and the next you're lying there on the ground and I couldn't-" Keith was crying again, but seemed to be desperately trying to hold it back. "I couldn't _do_ anything, and Shiro just grabbed me, and he had his hand around my throat and it was burning and it hurt so much and all I could see was his purple eyes glowing and your body lying right there and it was terrifying," Keith managed to get out, finally unable to hold back on his tears. Lance thought about what he had said as he held Keith close, letting him cry it out.

When Keith pulled back, Lance gently moved his hands across Keith's face, stretching his fingers out and looking down into his violet eyes. His hands moved down to pull at the collar of Keith's top, pulling it to the side to reveal a faint red hand print slowly fading into the skin. Lance paused, shock flowing through his system. Keith's own eyes went wide, obviously having realised what must rest on his neck, before he was suddenly moving forward to pull off Lance's own top, Lance letting him, looking down at his exposed chest to see an angry red mark going from shoulder to hip that was also fading fast. Lance gulped audibly, looking back up into Keith's eyes. "I think... I think you might be right about Shiro," Lance said quietly, and Keith nodded, still staring at Lance's chest.

  
"I really wish I wasn't, I really wanted to be wrong about this," he admitted, taking Lance's hands in his own. Lance hummed, waiting for the line across his abdomen to fade before he pulled his shirt back on, and carefully reached out for the ticker on the nightstand to check the time.

  
"It's almost time to get up, so no point trying to go back to sleep," Lance said quietly, and Keith nodded. Together they got up, taking turns in the bathroom before Lance pressed a quick kiss to Keith's lips. "I'll see you soon," he said against them, and Keith nodded, still unusually quiet, not that Lance could blame him. He headed back to his own room to get dressed, moving quickly so as to see Keith again. He didn't want to leave him alone today, not if he could help it. He was out the room barely a minute after having entered it, and managed to make it back to Keith's room just as he was pulling his jacket on. He got a small, thankful smile for his efforts, and Keith's hand slid into his for the walk to the dining room.

  
When they arrived, Hunk was making what looked to be blue pancakes, or possibly omelettes, singing happily to himself as he did so. Hunk excelled at breakfast foods, and small finger foods, whereas Lance was better at making dinners, and together the two made some beautiful deserts, if given the right ingredients. The yellow paladin gave them a large smile and happy greeting as they entered the room, one which Lance tried his hardest to return happily. Hunk must have noticed the strain on both their faces however, and his smile turned soft and sad. "Long night?" He asked, and Lance nodded, not clarifying. "Want extra pancakes?" Hunk continued on, and Lance gave a relieved smile.

  
"Yeah, sure thing buddy, that would e great," Lance smiled, giving Keith's hand a squeeze, pulling him over to their usual seats at the table. Pidge was quick to join them holding her laptop with one hand and typing with the other, easily swerving her way around the door and half pulled out chair to get to her usual seat. Hunk put the pancakes down next to her free hand, and she started eating subconsciously, expertly avoiding getting anything on her keyboard. Keith barely touched his pancakes, and Lance ate all of his plus the extra ones Hunk had given him, one hand still in Keith's under the table. Allura arrived next, chatting happily to Hunk about different breakfast foods found on Altea and Earth, as she had never had pancakes before.

  
Everything was going relatively fine until Shiro arrived.

  
He pulled up his seat at the end of the table, next to Keith as he usually did. He didn't seem to notice how Keith tensed up even further than he had been before. He did notice, however, when Keith dropped his fork with a clatter onto the plate, attracting the attention of everyone around the table, including Pidge. "Hey Keith, what's wrong?" Shiro asked, and Keith flinched away as his hand came up to rest on Keith's shoulder. Lance squeezed his hand tightly, and Keith returned it, holding on for dear life. "Keith?" Shiro asked, pulling his arm back suddenly. The table was quiet except for the slight uptick in Keith's breathing. The tension was thick in the air, especially as Keith refused to meet Shiro's eyes. Lance, quickly realising his fear, leaned in to whisper into Keith's ear.

  
"His eyes are fine, they're normal Keith, he's not going to hurt you, he won't hurt anyone here, I promise," Keith took a deep breath as he finished, shoulders tight, before turning to look Shiro square in the face. Finally he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Shiro's eyes. He squeezed Keith's hand again, trying to give him strength through their physical connection.

  
"I'm fine Shiro," Keith said, trying and failing to sound sure of himself.

  
"Yeah, well you don't seem fine," Shiro said, leaning in slightly and lowering his voice until only Lance and Keith could hear him. "Is it being the leader? If it's too stressful for you, I could try again with Black." The others around the table were frowning at them, especially as Keith's expression turned sour in anger and sadness. Lance was frowning too, and the others could tell there was definitely something up.

  
"No, it's not that," Keith hissed, turning away to glare into his food even as his knuckles went white around Lance's hand. Shiro looked shocked, as if he hadn't expected Keith's reaction.

  
"No need to snap at me Keith, I'm just trying to be helpful," Shiro whispered again, this time less careful about his volume, but again nobody else at the table heard the conversation. Lance put down his own spoon, trying to keep a firm hold on his own emotions for Keith's sake. "To be a good leader you need to keep your anger in check. You can't have a repeat of the Garrison out here," Keith didn't even have a chance to react to what Shiro had said past pure shock before Lance was jumping out of his seat, finger jabbing into Shiro's chest as he shouted loud enough for the others to hear.

  
"Don't you _dare_ imply that ever again. Keith is an excellent leader, and does not have to put up with your shit. C'mon Keith," Lance said, whirling around to help Keith out of his seat, and marching the both of them out the room that was stunned into silence. Keith didn't say anything as they walked away, just held onto Lance's hand as he lead them away from the others and towards Lance's second favourite place on the ship, the observation deck.

  
When they arrived, it wasn't as empty as expected. Coran stood there, watching out the window as the stars moved past slowly, only looking away when he heard the door open. Lance paused, making eye contact with the adult he had come to care for most in space, his father figure where Shiro and Allura reminded him of his older siblings. Coran took in the scene in front of him, the two slightly shaking boys holding desperately to each other, and gave them a sad smile. "I'll go get the blankets. Do you want me to join you?" Coran asked softly, and Lance barely hesitated before nodding. Coran smiled once again, heading off into unknown parts of the castle in the hunt for soft fabrics. Lance brought Keith to the window, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. They stood there in silence for a few minutes before Coran returned, and together the three of them made a pillow nest next to the window. Lance and Keith crawled in, curling up together on one side, and Coran lay next to them, not touching, but there to provide comfort if needed.

  
"That isn't our Shiro. Shiro would never have even thought that about you, never mind said it. He cares about you, you're his brother," Lance assured Keith, hand running up and down his back.

  
"I know, it still hurt though," the 'especially after last night' went unsaid, but Lance knew what he meant. Lance sighed into Keith's hair.  
"Yeah, I know."

  
Coran spoke up from the other side of the nest. "We can figure out how to get Shiro back later. Right now though, I'm going to tell you about that galaxy over there, called Afanadara," Coran said, voice happy as usual, pointing to a star off to the side, though which one Keith and Lance weren't sure. He continued on talking until both boys were asleep, curled up together, before he let his facade drop. He hoped they would get Shiro back soon, otherwise he was going to have a lot of emotionally overloaded teenagers on his hands.


End file.
